Yesterday in Sauze d’Oulx a high level competition took place and once again the Superenduro makes it step in the history of World Enduro biking.

A tough race for more than 300 bikers, who not only competed on 7 special stages of the 4th PRO race of the Superenduro powered by SRAM circuit, but also took part at the Vibram Enduro MTB Trophy of the Nations, for the first time organized outside the French borders.

“Choosing Italy as the first foreign country to host the EMTN was a natural solution” says Fred Glo, the inventor of this format and the French Enduro Series, “After France, Italy is the country that believes more in enduro and after 4 years of Superenduro we realized that the Italian organizers were the only ones we could pass the baton to”.

In fact this weekend in Sauze an epic race took place, with unique characteristics. The tracks of one of the most popular area of Alpi Bike Resort, chosen even by the Atherton brothers for their training and relax moments between races, did not betray the expectations, being at the same time funny and selective. The organization worked perfectly, also thanks to the valuable contribution of Gufi di Pogno, organizers of one of the most popular sprint races.

The idea to combine the most famous trails in Sauze d’Oulx with new features designed specifically for the race, has been highly praised by all participants, both Italian and foreign, all happy to go back home with an unforgettable experience, the hardest in the history of the SuperEnduro circuit. Athletes in these two days have found themselves in front of all the possible conditions: sun, rain, wind, heat, dust, mud, cold and had to adapt quickly to climate change, bringing out each ones strength and ability either in riding that in the bike settings. Never before in this race, experience and determination were such important and crucial values in field.

The French rider, armed with decades of experience in this discipline have proved once again their strength, but the Italians made their life not easy, fighting till the last special stage. The choice of the three members of the team Italy 1 has been a success by combining the speed of Andrea Bruno, the stubbornness of Davide Sottocornola and the balance of Marco Rodolico, all most representative Italian Enduro athletes, winners of the last three editions of the circuit . The three riders have raced hard and were rewarded with third place, bringing Italy for the first time on the podium of this prestigious event.

The EMTN wooden trophy, built for the occasion by local sculptor Maurizio Perron, went to the team France 1, composed of Jerome Clementz winner of the race, Greg Douce and Theo Galy. The twenty-seven Alsatian Jerome Clementz, winner of the Mega Avalanche and Enduro Series, has definitely made the difference and finished the race with a lead of one minute and a half over the runner Nicolas Lau, team France 3 together with Karim Amour, well known Superenduro rider and the ten times downhill world champion Nicolas Vouilloz. Nico, after a flat tire on the second PS that made him lose over five minutes, has experienced a comeback worthy of a champion, winning all the other special stages carrying the mind to the days when his nicknamed was the Extraterrestrial.

The first absolute positions of the Superenduro powered by SRAM have been monopolized by European athletes, with the Italian Andrea Bruno in third place, the Swiss Florian Golay fourth and the English Alex Stock in fifth position. The United States have attended the race with a single rider, the young Californian Ben Cruz, who left alone his country to take part of what he called the most beautiful race of my life.

Another non-European winner is the South African Anka Martin in the women’s category, capable to leave behind of no less than 4 minutes Pauline Diffenthaler from France, followed by Marianna Uttini from Italy.
The culmination of this exciting race weekend was reached on Sunday afternoon with the Supermountain special stage, which has seen all the national representatives and the first fifty Superenduro classified, starting from the top of Rocce Nere and ending directly into the paddock area in front of an excited audience and numerous leading international newspapers. Among the national teams was again the fastest was Jerome Clementz, while among the superenduro ranking Bruno Zanchi crossed the finish line first.

Beyond the big names attending the event and all the positive comments collected after the race, the thing that has rewarded the Superenduro staff was to see how all the participant have never lost the will and despite the incessant rain coupled with the tiredness of a hard race as SuperEnduro can be, have tightened the teeth until the end to reach the finish line victorious.

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